Heads or Tails
by Evercold
Summary: He couldn't possibly choose, it was a looseloose situation. How could he choose Temari over Ino? how could he stay with Ino after this? Shikamaru was indeed in deep trouble.ShikaTemaIno


**Heads or tails**

**A/n: ****This is a kinda fanfic I did using a couple of words. I asked a friend for three words that related to at least one of the others and this is what I got**

**Coin – choice – frustration**

**From here I wrote this fanfic, enjoy **

**-**

**Disclaimer – I Naruto™ was mine, I would forbid yaoi, but according to practically all males are gay nevertheless so it obviously isn't!**

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A lone figure walked down the empty street. The rays of the setting sun made his shade stretch like a giant snake. His arms hung limply beside him, and his face was even voider of expression than ever. His pace was ever so slow and with no enthusiasm what so ever, not that he normally was a bouncy-walking kinda guy but now he seemed more like a walking dead.

Shikamaru Nara sighed yet again, like he had done so frequently over the last period of time. He was indeed in trouble indeed, he knew it. There was no escape; he was caught in an intrigue web of half lies and innocent deceits that is a romantic relationship. Now, don't underestimate his power of thoughts, even though girls acted sporadic now and then, Shikamaru had the mental capabilities to calculate 53 possible scenarios but this –as he had come to realize – was only approximatly 59,55 of what was needed. So even with his skyhigh IQ, he could find no solution to his problem whatsoever.

He walked up his favourite cloudgazing place and as he lay down, memories started flowing through his head in a never-ending stream of confusion.

_---_

_He was 14 –and so was she._

_He was bored –and so was she._

_It had been a warm summer day and they were chilling on a grassy hill. Actually, Shikamaru was watching clouds and his team mates had sought him out, knowing that this would be their only chance to be together. Yamaka Ino was lying in the grass next to him and Shikamaru kept gazing to her._

_He had taken her hand and she had let him._

_He had enjoyed it – and so had she._

---

But now it was late September and the warm summer days was nothing but a happy memory on which you could cherish when fall came with its rainy days, and it's darkness creeping in on you, stealing some of your daytime whenever it had the chance.

Even though the grass was cold Shikamaru soon found himself lying on the back, staring into the darkening sky. A few single stars had begun to shine shyly but Shikamaru wasn't watching them –he was more of a cloudgazing person –he wasn't in the mood.

She had been his first and only girlfriend, and he had been taking their way for granted, until he met _her_.

Actually he had met her many years ago but it was when she came back recently that the trouble had started brewing. Maybe it was the way her hips swayed when she moved, maybe it was her natural beauty, but Shikamaru believed none of those. He knew why he liked _her_ rather than Ino, he could talk to her. When they chatted, they would be teasing each other, often she would yell at him, but at least they could talk to each other.

He had fallen in love, again. He had remembered how it used to be. He had remembered how it ought to be.

He had never really been good at hiding emotions and it was soon obvious to everyone.

_-Nara likes that girl from Suna-_

That was when things had begun to fall out of his grasp. Soon he was faced with the consequences. Ino had told him to choose. She had told him to choose the one that would make him happy, but Shikamaru _knew_ she was referring to herself.

_How could he possibly choose?_

He had told Temari and she took it okay, he guessed. It didn't help much when she told him she liked him too, the worst part was when

Now he lay there, all alone on the hilltop, staring into the empty sky, with empty eyes, portraying his empty feeling inside. A soft flicker of light caught his eye and he turned to see a coin, lying there in the grass. He picked it up while studying it. It was an ordinary yen, a couple of years old probably, he flicked it into the air before grabbing it.

He didn't know who to choose. He wanted to be with Temari but he didn't want to loose Ino. He had to choose though, he knew. Like the coin, when you threw it into the air it would fly until it was forced to choose a side to settle on.

Like so many times before, the young ninja thought of his future. His mind was filled with visions, and he imagined what his future would be like with each girl.

_-_

_Shikamaru sighed as he leaned back in h__is chair, another endless day at the office._

"_honeeey, can't you fetch the children?" her voice send shivers down his spine, because it reeked of all the hard work meant for him to do. Yet he never complained more than an empty; "troublesome" now and then. As he entered his kitchen he saw her standing there, barefooted in barely anything, her blond hair untied and flowing down her back. She turned to face him and as she did he put his arms around her, to show her that he cared. "Get moving" she ordered –slightly jokingly –and he called her a troublesome woman but in a cordial voice. As he walked out the door and into the hot Suna air, his gaze never left her. The citizens of Suna went on with their everyday business, only a few of them thought of Shikamaru as a newcomer now, after 14 years of living in the city. When Shikamaru suddenly no longer was able to spar with his team any longer, him receiving anything from hateful to contemptuous glares every now and then, his skill had slowly turned sloppy and even though his mind was sharp as ever he had eventually stopped showing up for their practice sessions. He never really became more than a chuunin, and when he moved to Suna to live with his girlfriend –whom he soon married –he had gotten himself a job as a military advisor, something that required no physical skills whatsoever. And every night when he went to bed, he felt guilt clutching in his chest._

_-_

The coin spun through the air and Shikamaru's eyes traced it as it fell;

-

_Shikamaru sighed as he leaned back in his chair, another endless day at the office._

"_honeeey, can't you fetch the children?" her voice send shivers down his spine, because it reeked of all the hard work meant for him to do. In spite of his frequent protest she always had something he needed completing. As he entered his kitchen he saw her standing there, barefooted in barely anything, her blond hair untied and flowing down her back. She turned to face him and as she did he put his arms around her, like a reflex, following a pattern that he had to follow. "Get moving" she ordered –slightly jokingly –and he called her a troublesome woman but hurried towards the door. As he practically ran out the door and into the fresh Konohan air, he suddenly felt a lot freeing, escaping from her clutches. The citizens of Konoha went on with their everyday business, a few of them eyed Shikamaru with admiration. Shikamaru had been at the peek of his abilities, his calculating abilities never got slower and his control over the family jutsus only grew, he had started to become quite famous when suddenly his girlfriend –whom he soon married –had required that he stopped being a ninja, she was worried when he was gone she had told him. He had gotten himself a job as a military advisor, something that involved no danger whatsoever._

_And every night, he felt guilt clutching in his chest._

-

Shikamaru never really liked gambling. He didn't like the fact that there was no telling what would happen next. Now his situation seemed much like such situation.

He chuckled faintly and turned the coin.

-Heads; he broke up with Ino, probably finding happiness with Temari but taking a risk. Also he would hurt Ino, a lot!

-Tails; he'd stay with Ino and ignore his feelings for Temari. He would be semihappy but not content. Feeling caught all the time. He would hate himself for choosing the relationship that wouldn't work, and –he shivered at the thought –the very situation could happen again.

-

Heads; Ino got sad –he lost

Tails; He wouldn't be happy –he lost

-

What odds those were. He chuckled again in wry irony before tossing the coin into the air. It spun through the air before settling itself on the ground.

He didn't even dare took look for the first couple of seconds. It wasn't as if he

Heads…

_He lost…_


End file.
